Culture Meets Strategy Over Breakfast : Book Review of Professor Eric Young’s Declaration of Independence…
Prof. Eric Young, in his new book Declaration of Independence: How Independent Compliance Officers and Directors Can Hold Management More Accountable immerses the reader into the world of compliance and ethics at the highest level. As a former CCO of JP Morgan Chase, GE, UBS, BNP Paribas, and S&P Global Ratings, Inc., he seamlessly relates to readers ranging from recent college graduates to C-suite executives and board members through his journey into compliance and ethics and relating aspects of C&E to everyday life. My favorite quote from Prof. Young’s work is, “culture meets strategy over breakfast.” A play on words from the commonly known proverb that “culture eats strategy for breakfast,” he emphasizes that compliance is not about how to interpret the law but also how to safely and responsibly operationalize it to fit the strategic and cultural needs of an organization. Culture and strategy go hand in hand while the need for organizations to collaborate is reciprocal.
As an avid baseball fan, Prof. Young cleverly relates the responsibilities and plights of chief compliance officers (CCOs) to those of catchers in baseball. Simultaneously positioning the defense, working with the manager and pitcher for pitch selection, developing a quality relationship with the home plate umpire, and contributing to the offense is directly analogous to making sure C-suite and employees of a company are fully complying with financial and legal regulations. “Eric Young is like the Yogi Berra of compliance. Endless knowledge and strategy. And the book is such an enjoyable read as well. You are able to look into Eric’s soul. One made of intelligence and concern for a better world. In a utopian society all compliance officers would be a clone of Eric’s!” according to Rebellion Research CEO Alexander Fleiss.
Declaration of Independence: How Independent Compliance Officers and Directors Can Hold Management More Accountable: Young, Eric : Amazon.com: Books
He highlights that CCOs not only need to know compliance law on par with attorneys but also need to translate legal hypotheticals into everyday business operations. Relating to culture and strategy, successful baseball clubs create a culture that celebrates the mundane fundamentals that give a team a strategic edge, such as bunting to move runners over or hitting a sacrifice fly to the outfield to score a runner from third base.
Prof. Young also gives sound advice regarding expanding beyond one’s comfort zone.
For professionals deciding whether to accept an office location transfer or even looking to switch companies, Prof. Young says to go for it! Feeding the desire to continue growing and gaining the ability to adapt far outweighs any potential drawbacks resulting from the decision. The attitude shown overcoming comfort zone anxiety and taking the initiative will allow one to triumph over any unforeseen consequences. Prof. Young translates this to both an organization and baseball setting where management and coaches need to provide a safe environment and allow for calculated risk-taking without fear of retribution. If management or coaches expect perfection every time, employees and players can become tentative and hesitate in situations requiring split-second decisions.
Lastly, Prof. Young passionately advocates for compliance and ethics officers to prioritize diversity of thought, created by forming groups of individuals with different skill sets and backgrounds who look at issues from varying angles.
In addition, he states that we must learn and improve our listening to others and acknowledge other people’s skillsets. With this, Prof. Young notes that the best perspectives result from listening to everyone in the room and then synthesizing their points into a new perspective.
Written by Paul Griessel Jr.
